News of: Wednesday, 1st of June, 2011

Front Page

The parliamentary special committee on constitutional amendment yesterday urged BNP to come up with proposals if they want to maintain the caretaker government system, apparently for putting pressure on the main opposition.

Food prices could double in the next 20 years and demand in 2050 will be 70 percent higher than now, UK charity Oxfam said yesterday, warning of worsening hunger as the global food economy stumbles close to breakdown.

Just a week after deciding to issue machine readable passports (MRPs) to over three lakh undocumented Bangladeshi workers in Malaysia, expatriates' welfare minister yesterday opted for handwritten ones.

Investigators yesterday handed over to the prosecution team the final report on the allegations against detained Jamaat-e-Islami Nayeb-e-Ameer Delawar Hossain Sayedee in connection with committing crimes against humanity during the 1971 Liberation War.

The United States will suspend its Millennium Development Accounts (MDA) contribution for Bangladesh until an honourable solution is reached over the issue of Nobel laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus, and the Grameen Bank he founded, BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia was told during her just-concluded US visit.

Editorial

The prime minister's 'no' to the caretaker system of government opens up a new debate on the future of politics in Bangladesh. To be sure, Sheikh Hasina has based her opinion on the recent judgement by the higher judiciary to the effect that the caretaker system lacks legality. We recall too that the judiciary has also suggested that the next two elections may be conducted under such a system. Obviously, the prime minister felt it necessary to emphasise the clear verdict of the court rather than its observation on elections in the immediate future.

The much awaited National Health Policy, 2011 aimed to ensure good health for all has been approved by the government. Although it is a belated fulfillment of one of the AL government's major election pledges it is to be commended for some of its good, forward-looking features.

Sports

Lethargic at times and brooding at others, Andy Murray worked his way into the French Open quarterfinals by coming back to beat Victor Troicki 4-6, 4-6, 6-3, 6-2, 7-5 on Tuesday in a match that started a day earlier.

Pakistan's Shahid Afridi told AFP on Monday he was retiring from all international cricket, saying he was dejected after being replaced as one-day captain following a fiery clash with coach Waqar Younis.

The final of the recurve junior men's team final of the Asian Youth Archery Championships got underway amid light drizzle and windy weather at the Army Stadium in Dhaka where India took gold edging hosts Bangladesh out by 189-183 points after some fierce competition.

The PCB has requested national coach Waqar Younis to return to Pakistan after the Ireland tour, instead of going to Australia, to discuss manager Intikhab Alam's report on the West Indies tour. Waqar was supposed to go to Australia to see his wife, who is unwell, but has been asked to return to Pakistan if her illness is not serious.

Key commercial partners of FIFA brandished the yellow card Tuesday at football's world governing body over a welter of corruption allegations, saying they had tarnished the image of the beautiful game.

Patuakhali's Donavan Secondary School reached the final of the Standard Chartered Young Tigers National School competition by beating Faridpur Muslim Mission School by 67 runs at Madaripur Stadium yesterday.

Uncapped Surrey seamer Jade Dernbach was called up into a 12-man England squad on Tuesday for the second Test against Sri Lanka at Lord's starting on Friday after James Anderson was forced out with injury.

The apex trade body yesterday insisted it never lobbied with the Bangladesh Bank to extend the deadline for bringing down the banks' exposure to stockmarket as has reportedly been claimed by the central bank.

The debate on how much the government should charge Grameenphone, Banglalink, Robi and Citycell to renew their licences, has turned around, but not enough. After the Draft Regulatory and Licensing Guidelines proposed by the Bangladesh Telecom Regulatory Commission came under heavy criticism from multiple quarters, the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications under whose authority licensing now falls has decided to make several amendments to the draft. The retrograde utilisation factor has not yet been removed. Implications for Digital Bangladesh do not appear to have been fully thought out.

While Bangladesh and India have launched shuttle diplomacy to boost bilateral trade, the regional trade issues remained undiscussed among the Saarc (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) nations even though this region is a trade bloc with the lowest trade worldwide.

South Asian regional trade is taking place at levels much below the standards set by other prominent trade blocs across the world. The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (Saarc) has the potential to become a much more effective regional trade bloc -- if some barriers are removed. Annisul Huq, president of Saarc Chamber of Commerce and Industry, explains in an interview how the barriers can be removed. Huq, a Bangladeshi national, was formerly the president of the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry and Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.

When Premier Wen Jiabao spoke to reporters at the end of China's annual parliamentary session in March, he likened inflation to a wild animal. "Inflation is like a tiger. Once you let it out, it's very hard to cage again," he said solemnly.

Sony Corp said on Tuesday it was not certain when it could fully restore PlayStation Network videogame services in Japan, Hong Kong and South Korea, five weeks after a massive network security breach forced the company to shut them down.

Food prices could double in the next 20 years and demand in 2050 will be 70 percent higher than now, UK charity Oxfam said on Tuesday, warning of worsening hunger as the global food economy stumbles close to breakdown.

Owners of printing presses, book binding shops and paper houses in the city's Motijheel area observed one-hour work abstention from 10:00am yesterday protesting attack on a press owner of the area on May 29.

The level of oxygen has increased in the recent times in the Buriganga making the river livable for different fish species, State Minister for Environment and Forests Dr Hasan Mahmud told journalists at his office yesterday.

BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia for the second day yesterday distributed cooked foods and essential commodities among the poor in the city marking the 30th death anniversary of former president Ziaur Rahman.

Today is the first death anniversary of Hasina Banu Younus, wife of late Alhaj Ahmed Younus, a former joint secretary of Bangladesh Agriculture Development Corporation and founder president of Rajshahi Zilla Parishad, says a press release.

Jamila Khatun, wife of late Cherag Ali Hawlader and mother of Nazrul Islam, a senior reporter of the daily Prothom Alo, passed away yesterday due to old age complications at the age of 80, says a press release.

International

Muammar Gaddafi is emphatic he will not leave Libya, South African President Jacob Zuma said yesterday after talks with the Libyan leader that left prospects for a negotiated end to the conflict looking dim.

Street fighting raged across the Yemeni capital yesterday after a tenuous truce broke down between tribal groups and forces loyal to President Ali Abdullah Saleh, edging the impoverished Arab country closer to civil war.

Serbia's war crimes court rejected an appeal against the extradition of Ratko Mladic yesterday, opening the way for the former Bosnian Serb general's dispatch to The Hague to stand trial, a spokeswoman said.

Unpopular Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan yesterday refused to step down in the face of a no-confidence motion in parliament this week, saying he wanted first to resolve the world's worst nuclear crisis in 25 years.

Arts & Entertainment

The 1st Dhaka International Theatre Festival ended on May 30 through the staging of Rabindranath Tagore's “Dakghar”. Kalakshetra Manipur, a theatre troupe from the Indian state of Manipur, staged the play at the National Theatre Hall, Bangladesh Shilpakala Academy.

Marking 112th birth anniversary of National Poet Kazi Nazrul Islam, Bangladesh National Museum (BNM) arranged a discussion and musical programme at Poet Sufia Kamal Auditorium of BNM on May 30. Noted Nazrul exponent and Vice Chancellor of University of Liberal Arts, Bangladesh, Professor Rafiqul Islam, was the chief guest at the programme.

This month's instalment of Bengal Foundation's musical programme “Praner Khela” highlighted the opulence of Bangla folk music. The soiree was held on May 30 at the Bengal Gallery of Fine Arts, Dhanmondi in Dhaka.

Theatre group Youth Engagement Support (of the district Committee of Concerned Citizens), under Transparency International Bangladesh, held a public performance on anti-corruption recently. Titled “Hurka” (local name for storm), the production was staged at the Kurigram Shilpakala Academy.

Celebrating Life Concert, organised by The Daily Star and the Standard Chartered Bank, was held at Pabna Edward College Auditorium on Monday. The concert featured a performance by Subir Nandi, one of the leading Adhunik singers of the country. Lyricist Mohammad Moniruzzaman discussed on the evolution of Bangla songs on the occasion.

OP-ED

A retired deputy head of the BBC's Bengali Service last week gave a new twist to Bangladesh's history through a letter to The Guardian newspaper in London. He was responding to an article by Ian Jack on Bangladesh, which article we will, if we so wish, deal with later. At this point, note what this Bengali gentleman had to say about Bangabandhu's arrival in London on January 8, 1972 following his release from Pakistani detention by the government of President Zulfikar Ali Bhutto.

Uncertainty is the chaotic force-multiplier of insecurity. That is the only explanation, if there is one, for a curious statement made by Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousaf Gilani. When Gilani clambers aboard, he does tend to go overboard with a consistency that is clearly becoming a comfort to foes and an embarrassment to friends.

It has been over six years. On January 27, 2005, our father, Shah A.M.S. Kibria, former UN Under-Secretary General, finance minister and Member of Parliament of Bangladesh, was brutally assassinated by a grenade attack in Habiganj, Sylhet. We are still waiting for justice.

Globalisation as a strategy for achieving technological competitiveness and industrial development by the developing countries was advocated by WTO in the nineties. The concept was well received by the developing countries with the underlying strength of the argument and perception that their existing low-tech industries would be encouraged/or forced to develop competitive technologies or absorb imported advanced technologies from developed countries to survive against imported low priced quality products. It was also expected that there would be awareness among the entrepreneurs and the planners about the technology-led development in the manufacturing sector.